The night belonged to Trump and Clinton, who turned the busiest day of the 2016 primaries into a showcase of their strength with a wide swath of American voters.
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Clinton won seven of 11 states and Trump did at least as well, as the front-runners padded their leads in the all-important delegate counts that determine the parties’ nominees.
In her victory remarks, former Secretary of State Clinton set her sights on the possible clash with Trump for the presidency. And the rhetoric we’re hearing on the other side has never been lower. “In a head-to-head battle with Donald Trump, we win resoundingly, and what tonight did is further the process of getting it head to head as a choice between our campaign and Donald Trump and in that contest we win”, he said. Four in 10 said they were born again, cutting into Cruz’s efforts to claim the evangelical vote.
Clinton also picked up wins in Alabama and Arkansas, while Trump carried the GOP contests in Alabama and MA.
Her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., waves as he leaves a news conference after voting in the Vermont primary at the Robert Miller Community and Recreation Center in Burlington, Vermont, Tuesday, March 1, 2016, on Super Tuesday.
That increases the likelihood of a Trump-Clinton showdown in the November election, offering voters what would likely be the starkest contrast in presidential candidates they have seen in their lifetimes.
It hit me at that moment – and it hit the Republican Party’s central command, or lack thereof, I would imagine – that Rubio couldn’t cut it. Yes, it appeared he might pull out the Minnesota caucuses, and finally get a first place, but that was nearly an afterthought to Trump’s insane Southern sweep. Conservative Solutions, a super political action committee backing Rubio – and blasting Trump – has reserved $6 million of ad time for in the soon-to-vote states of Michigan, Illinois, Missouri and Florida.
Asked by reporters several times Tuesday night about Ryan’s comments, Trump denied that he had failed to disavow white supremacists. US Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, favorite of the Republican establishment, was projected the victor in Minnesota, his first victory. He insisted he would win his home state of Florida’s primary on March 15 and casted himself as an “underdog” from an “underdog state” in an “underdog country”.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson also remains in the race.
Cruz desperately needed the win in Texas in order to stay in the race, and was likely to keep campaigning as the only Republican who has been able to defeat Trump in any primary contest. He called on his remaining rivals to “prayerfully consider our coming together, uniting”.
A defiant Sanders addressed a rowdy group of supporters in his home state shortly after polls closed there, but well before results were clear in the larger Super Tuesday states at stake – where Clinton was heavily favored to roll up victories. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president.
She is assured of winning at least 457 of the 865 delegates at stake Tuesday.
Message boards associated with PredictIt featured growing discussion of a possible brokered convention, which can occur when no candidate has won a clear majority of delegates before the start of the party convention.
Republicans spent months largely letting Trump go unchallenged, wrongly assuming that his populist appeal with voters would fizzle. Instead, he’s appeared to only grow stronger, winning states and drawing broad support for some of his most controversial proposals.
“We welcome you on our team united as one”, he said.
Clinton, once seen as the all-but-inevitable Democratic nominee, has contended with an unexpectedly strong challenge from Sanders, a senator and self-described democratic socialist.
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But Sanders’ campaign has exposed many of Clinton’s weaknesses, particularly among young voters and some women.
